Proof Research Carbon Fiber Barrels for Savage Rifles

Proof Research announced the company is now offering pre-fit carbon fiber barrels for Savage bolt action rifles. According to the company, these pre-fit barrels are designed to be installed by the end user and not need a professional gunsmith to install them. This could make the barrels much more interesting to the hobbyest shooter looking to lighten his or her rifle and tighten up groups at long range.

The company’s vice president of engineering and product development, Jason Lincoln, stated the barrels are up to 50% lighter than steel barrels and cool 50% faster than steel barrels, offering “…virtually no point-of-impact shift during high-volume strings of fire.”

“We believe there is no better choice for the custom gun builder who wants to build a precision long-range rifle,” said Lincoln.

The new barrels will be available for a range of calibers including:

.223 Rem

.22-250 Rem

.243 Win

6.5 Creedmoor

6.5×284 Ackley

6.5×280 Ackley

7mm Rem Mag

.300 Win Mag

According to Proof Research, the barrels are currently only available through Stocky’s LLC located in Lake Worth, Florida. Fortunately, the company has a website with the ability to make purchases online. According to the Stocky’s website, the barrels normally sell for $940 each. At the time of this writing, the company appears to be having a sale on them as they are marked down to $846.99.

An advocate of gun proliferation zones, Richard is a long time shooter, former cop and internet entrepreneur. Among the many places he calls home is http://www.gunsholstersandgear.com/.

Advertisement

thedonn007

What, no .308?

Gary Kirk

There’s a .308 bore on the list..

cs

I believe 300 win mag fits that 308 bill. Right?

Gary Kirk

Ding.. 7.62x67mm, Great round.. Hell on the throat of a barrel, though.. Not as bad as a couple of the other entries on the list.. I didn’t say this.. But 7mm Rem… And here come the deer hunters comments

FarmerB

Installed by end user? Who’s going to recut the chamber?

Mike N.

On a Savage you don’t need to. Take out ejector, screw barrel (with barrel nut and recoil lug installed) down on action with a go-gauge in the chamber, tighten barrel nut (which will increase headspace over minimum by 0.001-0.002″), reinstall ejector, done. Some headspace gauges (I’ve got two) have a notch in the base for the ejector, so you can even skip that stop.

FarmerB

You missed the point. The question was about there not being a .308 barrel – but somebody said, well, yes there is a .308 barrel since the 300 Win Mag is there. But the issue is that these are barrels with pre-cut chambers, so maybe they have a 300 Win Mag barrel but it doesn’t help if you want to chamber it in .308 Win (even allowing for twists, etc). Was just reminding readers that .308 bore .ne. .308Win chambering.

Don

That they do, copied from their website… “The Summit I shot for this report had a 20-inch barrel in .308 Win. and weighed exactly six pounds. Attaching a Swarovski Z3 3-10×42 scope”

tazman66gt

Proofread, they are making barrels in .308.

maodeedee

Here is the list. as you can see, .308 is not there. Where in the article does it say that they are making barrels in .308?

It did, however say that The new barrels will be available for a range of calibers INCLUDING those listed, so I guess that could mean that it’s POSSIBLE that they make one in .308, but it’s also possible that they make one in 5.7 Velo Dog or 8mm Lebel

tazman66gt

From Stocky’s own website.

micmac80

No straight .284 ? but 6.5-284 Ackley LOL ,with exception of .223rem all the calibers listed are barrel burners so it seems that is the company policy , no boring calibers ,buy a new barrel sooner than later

Gary Kirk

And at $850.. Just buy another Savage, cause at least a couple of those like to work a little on the bolt as well

Ned Weatherby

Funny. With all the barrel makers for Savage, people will buy barrels for 900 bux. Chuckle.

AD

Why would the barrels cool faster? Does the carbon fiber draw the heat away from the steal and disperse it into the air somehow, or do they cool faster simply because there is less metal holding the heat (meaning that they would also heat up faster)?

Michael V

Good point, I would think that, generally speaking, the thermal conductivity of steel is better than carbon fibre. So if the barrel is coated in carbon fibre it should slow down the rate of cooling.

Paul Epstein

According to Proof Research, they’ve aligned many of the fibers so that they carry heat outwards to the surface and use an epoxy which is suited to the heat. Accept or reject that as you will, but that’s their actual claim.

JumpIf NotZero

I can absolutely confirm that my Proof barrels get HOT on the carbon, feels as hot as any steel barrel after long strings.

AD

Interesting, that does seem to support their claims.

JumpIf NotZero

You’re only getting 1/2 the equation here.

Carbon fiber entirely aside – if the barrel has less steel, it won’t have the mass to retain heat.

It has less potential to store heat – it must cool faster.

AD

This stuff is a little beyond my vague memories of physics from school, but I keep thinking that less metal means the barrels will heat up more quickly.

Here’s my logic: the amount of energy entering the barrel depends on the barrel length and temperature (heat transfers more quickly the greater the temperature difference, so as the barrel heats up the rate at which heat transfers from the exploding gases will drop slightly).

There’s probably other factors in practice, but if we keep things simple and assume that all factors are constant except external diameter (and therefore total amount of metal) for two barrels, then the same amount of energy should be transferred to each barrel from a single shot.

This would then mean that the one with less metal will heat up more from that single shot, as it has absorbed the same amount of total energy. (OK, if the smaller barrel does heat up more then it will probably absorb slightly less energy in total because as we just said heat transfer will be slower the hotter the barrel is, but that means it’s already hotter than the larger barrel anyway so…).

Well, if the carbon fiber actually does help cool the barrel as they claim then that’s a different matter of course.

JumpIf NotZero

“but I keep thinking that less metal means the barrels will heat up more quickly.”

Yea, that’s true, except that the carbon doesn’t, and the steel is held in tension and compression by that carbon.

They make no claims about it not heating up quickly – but I can confirm you don’t see POI impacts like you do on cheap barrels like Christensen which is just tension automotive carbon over a steel barrel.

The claim is they cool down quicker – and by having less steel, that’s true.

So you kind of have to balance that they may get warm quicker because there is less metal, it doesn’t suffer the same accuracy issues as a raw steel barrel, and they cool down faster.

I don’t know, and honestly don’t even really care, my Proof barreled guns just shoot, over and over, all day, and they’re light. I’m pretty happy.

Don

Per there website… “Our helical wrapping pattern favors the longitudinal thermal diffusivity of the carbon fibers (along the length of the barrel) allowing them to more efficiently dissipate heat emanating from the barrel rather than insulating it. Because our barrels are engineered for thermal performance, they also move heat very effectively through the wall (thickness) of the barrel, greatly increasing heat transport and resulting in barrels that cool faster and maintain accuracy over longer sessions of fire.

Bierstadt54

Handsome-looking barrels.

Treyh007

These are beautiful barrels but Why No 308 or 270…..

David Harmon

No MK2 .22lr love, no care.

LetsTryLibertyAgain

“We believe there is no better choice for the custom gun builder who wants to build a precision long-range rifle”

Yet, no 338 Lapua. 🙁

uisconfruzed

I was stoked, then I saw $900+.

maodeedee

But for a limited time only they’re on sale for only $846.99!

gregge

No .303 Savage… for an 1899 lever action? A 99 with a full octagon carbon fiber barrel and carbon fiber stock would be something different.